Where Did the Summer Go?

Wow! This summer flew by. I can't believe the party is over and we are back to the school routine starting tomorrow. Here are several pictures from our Teton vacation with my family.


Above: Our campsite minus one tent that is just out of view. We always stay at Colter Bay. I love it there.

Below: I LOVE this picture of my brother and his youngest two kids. His kids are so lucky to have him for a dad.

Below: One of our favorite things was dipping our feet in the lake water. This is Taggart Lake. The kids did a great job hiking the 1.5 miles (3 round trip) to get here.


Above: One of these pictures wasn't posed! I can't remember which one. Well, actually it was because it took me so long to get my camera, but it wasn't posed at first. I love these kids.

Below: Luke requested this picture. He wants to print it and "keep it in his collection". He has only requested a couple pictures in his lifetime, so this was a big deal. This boat driver took us on a somewhat wild ride accross Jenny Lake and soaked one half of the boat. Luke thought it was hilarious. He was one of the wettest and was totally happy.

Above and Below: Our Taggart Lake hike. The girls were so adorable and were having a great time. I had a really hard time enjoying their adorable actions though. They were walking so slow and had to stop all the time! They did speed up occasionally and run the wrong way back down the trail, only to have to turn around and need a break. Sigh. I would have enjoyed it more but I was in charge of lunch and half of the family was way ahead. Below right: Grandpa and Grandma stopped about a half a mile into the trail and waited by a gorgeous river. I love the sound of rushing water! I have been hiking this trail since I was little with my grandparents. I remember this area before the fire, then I remember hiking it almost every year since the fire up until the time I got married. It has been so much fun watching the area regrow. You can barely tell there was ever a fire anymore, aside from the fact that the trees are smaller. I love that I have been able to hike this trail so many times with my family.



Above: My favorite picture of the trip.
Below: The last time we were in the Tetons, Megan was about this age. I have some cute pictures of her in her diaper playing in the water too. I need to post them side by side.



I love my family!


Below: This was her "Ariel" rock. Remember Little Mermaid? Haha. So cute!

Jr. Rangers!

On our trip the kids worked really hard to become Jr. Rangers. NPS has great programs for kids to become Jr. Rangers in all of the national parks. You learn so much doing it and it's a lot of fun too. We loved the program, and the kids were extremely proud to get their badges. The process of becoming a Jr. Ranger is really cute. First you have to fill out this booklet, then you have to go to the visitors center where a park ranger talks with you and reviews your answers. Last you raise your right hand and repeat the park ranger pledge. It was so cute I teared up a bit.

Then and Now

We went to the Tetons with my side of the family last week. It was a great trip. The Tetons are truly one of my favorite places on Earth. It's incredible and I have so many good memories up there.

We haven't been to the Tetons for a while (2005). Look how much the kids have changed since we were there last.

Another Scrapbook Page

I scrapbooked some old pictures yesterday with some new papers and elements that are going on the next DSM CD. I love these stitches. They are inspired by my daughter's Bubblegum jeans. There is another element like this with brighter stitches that will go on the CD too.

Upcoming Classes and Another Sneak Peak

Above is another sneak peak at the upcoming DSM CD. I think that Facebook Flair is so fun, I thought I would make some high resolution flair for scrapbooking.

I've been asked to teach several classes at CK's Digital Scrapbook Experience in Provo, UT in September. It looks like they have several amazing teachers. It's nice to be included in that group.

Here are the classes I'll be teaching:

Basic Tablet Techniques
In this intermediate class, students will learn how to complement existing digi kits with their own unique papers and elements they create using a pen tablet. Students will be able to practice with and experience the general feel of the tablet, and learn the basic functions of the pen tablet. This is a hands-on workshop where each student will be able to practice using a Wacom pen tablet. Students will use the tablets while using such programs as Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. Students will learn to use their pen tablets to make doodles, and then turn those doodles into colored paper pieced elements.

Digital Introduction for the Novice Scrapbooker
This is a refresher course for those novice digital scrapbookers who need a refresher before class starts on Friday** In this beginning scrapbooking class students will experience the ease of which pages can be created using Photoshop Elements. They will learn the basic properties of exploring the workspace, as well as photo manipulation. In the class we will assemble a basic scrapbook page. Students will receive a CD of kits and elements which they will be able to keep. They will use these kits to create and print a page to take home with them.

Undecided Third Class
I'm trying to change the topic of what they asked me to teach. I want to teach a hybrid class.




This event is a lot more expensive than our DSM retreats but I know they are a lot of fun. I've been to several (non-digital) before and loved them. Let me know if you go so I can look for you.

Sneak Peak

Here is a small sample of some designs I've been working on. It's fun to see the kits coming together. DSM will have these papers on a new CD in September if all goes well. I'll show you more detailed images closer to when it's released. The full size images have some really cool textures I'm in love with.





You can see one more small preview here.

Facebook Flair

I really like this Facebook Flair. I feel like a little kid collecting it. I reminds me of all of my erasers I used to have when I was in elementry school. I loved collecting those. I thought they were so beautiful.

Luke very a very calm and cool way said I could put a "I love Luke" button on my board if I wanted to. Haha. I thought it was a great idea too.

Summer

I'm enjoying my summer. Hope you all are too. We are doing all sorts of fun things including finding snow in this hot summer heat. I love snow ball fights on a hot summer day :) Yay for the mountains.

Youth Conference

If you guessed Youth Conference (in the post below) you were right. It was a great experience! Definitely the best Youth Conference I have ever been to! That is saying a lot since I figure I have been to TWENTY SIX Youth Conferences or Girl's Camps. Wow. That is a lot of camping with the youth!

Here is a song by the 2nd ward. I LOVE this song so much I keep listening to it. It's a song about trying to be like the amazing leaders and prophets we read about in the Book of Mormon.

Keith and I were asked to go to this camp as a "Lehi and Sariah". Lehi and Sariah are the parents in the first story of the Book of Mormon. We played the parents to a group of 6 teenagers. We participated as a family in lots of fun faith promoting games and would talk to our "family" in the evenings. Most families stayed around camp, but we chose to go off into this beautiful meadow where we were a little more secluded. It was ideal. I loved that meadow. Blake Howell took a picture of our little family from a distance. I'm so grateful for this picture, because it is something I definitely want to remember, plus it's a GREAT picture. Although I don't love getting my picture taken I do appreciate being in a picture rather than taking all of the photos as I usually do.

The costumes you see are our best attempts to inexpensively recreate "Nephite" clothing. We all wore costumes throughout the camp for fun. Haha. Some thought it was fun, but everyone had to wear them. It really was a great weekend!




BTW - In case you didn't know, the Book of Mormon is called "Another Testament of Jesus Christ" because we believe Christ came to America after he was resurrected. The Book of Mormon was written by those that lived here in America. It's called the Book of Mormon only because that is the prophet that compiled the books that make up the record. I love knowing that God loves all of his children and didn't abandon those living in a different part of the world.

Any Guesses?

Who can guess what Keith and I did last weekend?

Kennecott

I decided I want the theme of my summer to about being a tourist in my own city. There are so many cool things around here. Many things I never do, but are really cool. I have never taken my kids to Kennecott Copper Mine before a few weeks ago. I'm so glad I finally took them. It's such an interesting place to go. It's especially intersting to me because my FIL works for this company (although not at this location). I loved showing my kids what their grandpa does. They were very impressed.

I went with really fun people... my sister Angie, her kids, my grandpa and my kids.



Below is the truck that has the tires as big as you see in the picture above. Cool!





I love the picture below. I think it's hilarous. She was copying what her brother and cousins were doing, but had no idea you were supposed to look IN the eyeholes. Lately this cute girl has been copying all of the kids a lot. It's so fun to watch!

Group Picture

My family is loud. Keith's family is not. Keith's family is quiet and reserved. While there are definite advantages to being loud (by loud I mean getting things done quick at all costs) I get nervous I'm obnoxious sometimes. Taking this picture made me nervous because I totally took over and made everyone get in the picture. I didn't want to be too "loud" so I took the picture really quick in an effort not to keep people waiting too long. I didn't even wait for some of the kids or anyone who ran away from the camera as I normally do. There are a lot of people missing in this photo. Still, I was nervous I was taking over too much and in my hurry to get the picture didn't notice the stroller in the foreground of the picture! Geez. Oh well. Unfortunately this is the main family picture from the runion, we never got another because Keith's aunt Anita left the next morning. I would have done much better if I would have realized that, but hopefully everyone will be happy with this picture.

I love Keith's family and I'm so grateful I married into such an amazing group of people. They are all so good to me, easy to talk to and enjoyable to be with.



BTW - I didn't take many pictures of Wayne's family. I totally regret that. I hope someone else did.

More Family Reunion Pictures

Family pictures are a big deal to me so you may see a couple more posts on the reunion still. I think personal and family history are really important so I love to document these types of things. Below are a sample of many of my favorite pictures. I have more pictures some of you (family) will want to see. I'll make sure you all have access to a downloadable zip file with all of the high resolution pictures soon.

Silhouette

I'm not sure if this picture is neat to anyone but me, but I like it a lot. This is at the Napels Cemetery. Many of us went to the cemetery during our family reunion to let the kids put flowers on their great grandfather's grave. I have much more to write about this at another time.